Do Ends Justify Means?

Those who know me will know both my political leanings and the football team I support. They will also know that I try to support the idea that the ends don’t justify the means and it is the latter of these that can be problematic in our day to day lives. After all, if I lived in a war zone and my children were starving, then that particular mantra wouldn’t stop me doing whatever was necessary to provide for them. Maybe that’s why I see co-operation as a much better way to run our society than competition. Ironic really because, personally, I tend to be somewhat of a one man band.

That, however, doesn’t mean that I don’t prefer sharing and caring over greed and avarice anyway; the Highest Common Denominator over the Lowest Common Factor. “How can I help?” over “Sod you, Jack”. So how do I equate those views to watching what is, possibly, one of the most competitive and wealthiest of sports? Well. I would argue that it’s as much about teamwork as competition. In fact, I would go further and argue that, while individual talent (Berbatov, Gascoigne, Bale, etc.) is what makes me watch, it’s teamwork that is making the current Spurs’ team so much more successful that any that I’ve watched for much of my life.

So, do ends justify means? Well let’s see what happens at the end of the season before I answer that question?